Improvement in motive-power apparatus



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Letters Patent No. 99,992, dated February 15, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOTIVE-POWER APPARATS.

The Schedule referred to 1n these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it mia/y concern:

Beit known that we, HonA'rIo WILKINS and WIL- LIAM H. SANGSTER, of Paris, in the county of Bourbon, and in the State of Kentucky, have invented cer- 'taiu new and useful Improvements in Motive-Power; and do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon making a part of this specification.

The' nat-nre of our invention consists in a new and improved motive-power, operated and controlled exclusively by the contraction and expansion of metals.

In order to enable others skilled-in the art to which our invention appertains to make and use the same,'we will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is aside elevation of our machine;

Figure 2 is an enlarged section ofthe machine;

Figure 3 is a side view of a modilication of a portion of the machine; and

Figure 4 is a plan view of a portion of the machine.

lA represents the bed or frame of the machine, hav ing a series of horizontal pipes or rods, B B, placed upon it, said pipes'or rods being made of metal that is capable of ready expansion andcontraction.

rlhe pipes B B are at one end iirinly secured to the frame A, while at the other end each one has a slotted bar, 0, secured to it, the bars G C resting upon a bar or tube, D. y

Through the slots in the bars C C pass upright levers E E, which are hinged or pivoted at their lower ends to the frame A, and adjusted iu' the`v slotted bars G C bymeans of set-screws a a.

At the upper ends ofthe levers EE are pivoted curved levers G G, which are toothed on theY under Aside and are passed through a guide-plate, H.

Each .one of the toothed levers G G passes through a separate vertical slot in the guide-plate H and rests upon a pinion, b, all of said pinions being mounted upon a common shaft, at one end of which is a pulley, I, connected by a belt with a pulley on the same shaft as the ily-wheel J, and this latter shaft is, by another pulley and belt, connected with. the machinery to be operated upon. Y

It will now be seen that if heat is applied to either` one ofthe tubes or pipes B it will expand, causing the lever E to lean forward and bringing the toothed lever G further down; then, as the heat is removed from said tube, it contracts, drawing the'levers E and G backward again; but during the motion the teeth of the lever G catch on the pinion b, turning the shaft on which the pinion is placed. This expansion and contraction being carried on alternately throughout all the tubes B B, it will readily be seen that we produce acontinuous rotary motion of anydesired force and speed.

Instead of using the toothed lever G, we may employ a 'straight aim, G', as shown in fig. 3,' connecting the upper end of the levenE with an arm, d, project ing from a collar, c, placed loosely upon the main shaft, and this collar provided with a pawl, f, and spring h to gear with the pinion b upon the shaft to turn the same. By this means we apply the expansion and contraction of any kind of metal as a power to propel machinery, whether the expanding and contractingmetal be made solid or in hollow tubes.

There are also various ways of expanding the power rods or tubes B B; for instance, Vsuch as using them as lueadampening or shutting off the draft from each flue, as requiredto produce proper motion. Also, various ways of contracting theft'ubes, such as a blower or pump to compress air into a chamber, thereby being able to blow with great power into the tubes if required, either'constant or at intervals, using flexible tubing attached to a reverse action moved by our motion; or the expansion and contraction maybe produced by a movable furnace, Z, placed under the tubes or rods B B. C

The natural contraction secures an even, powerful motion, and -when driving the heaviest kind of ma- :.chinery if all the strain upon it is thrown olf at once it still keeps-up the same steady motion, unlike steampower, which would be impeded to such an extent as to tear the machine to pieces. A

"To stop' the machinewe have a lever so arranged as to disconnect every ratchet from the driving-shaft, as

shown in g. 3, the expansion and contraction continuing without turningv a wheel. The machine maybe reversed by the same or other suitable means.

Having thus fully described our invention,

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The employment of a series of metal tubes or rods with a suitable heating apparatus beneath them,

whereby contraction and `expansion of said tubes or rods is had, which causes the operation of suitable mechanism for a motive-power, substantially asset forth.

2. The tubes or rods B B with slotted plates (l C, levers E E, and set-screws a a, all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

3. The combination of the tubes or rods B B, levers E E, toothed levers G G, or their equivalents, and pinions b b, all of which are on one shaft, substantially as and for vthe purposes herein set forth.

1n testimony that we claim the foregoing, we have hereunto set our hands this 31st day of January, 1870.

' H. WILKINS.'

WILLIAM H. SANGSTER. Witnesses:

C. L. EvERtr, EDM. F. BROWN.- 

